


Cunning Muggleborn

by ItsJesseMyGuy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gay, Lesbian Character, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:28:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29877726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsJesseMyGuy/pseuds/ItsJesseMyGuy
Summary: Basil Grove is a nonbinary metamorphmagus in 1971. After the Muggleborn is introduced to the wizarding world everything changesSLOWBURNWolfstarJily
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin





	1. Will the Wise

Time stamp- Summer before first year  
Word Count--930

Story:  
______________________________________

Basil woke up in their room, they pushed their book of their face, having fallen asleep whilst reading about the daring adventures of Will the Wise for about the 4th time that week. Mother insisted it was all fiction, make believe for little kiddies. Mother said that Basil had to start growing up, else they'd be bullied at secondary school. Of course, Mother said all that, but instead of Basil she said Bella and instead of they she said she. That was the problem with families. Basil couldn't muster up the courage to tell her, that they aren't a girl. They felt a strange familiarity in their books, and hauled themself out of bed, slowly cleaning up the room and picking up the nights midnight snack wrappers. They went to make a descent into the land of socialisation for breakfast, and turned, remembering that they had left one of their drawers open, however when they reached the door, they heard the click of it closing, and surely enough when they opened the door, the drawer was closed, with Will the Wise perched on top of it. They sighed. It happened again. Things moving on their own. 

"Bella!" their father called "Are you up yet? It's time for breakfast!" 

"Coming, Father!" they called back, flinching at the wrong name. They trudged down from their room and sat at the kitchen, yawning a little "morning" 

"Good Morning dear" their mother smiled and passed them a glass of orange juice. 

They slurped it "thanks" 

Mrs. Grove's lips pursed at the sound of slurping, but she shrugged it off and turned back to handing out the breakfast. 

The conversation quickly changed to secondary schools, and Basil groaned, plomping their head in their arms. However their dramatic attempts of halting the discussion failed miserably and Mr and Mrs. Grove continued talking, as though Basil wasn't even there. 

At around mid-day, Basil had a visitor. They hauled themselves from their room after being shouted down and looked at their father "What is it? I'm reading" 

"There's a man at the door, he wishes to speak to us" 

"Okay, so why do I have to be here?" 

"Its about school" 

Basil sighed "Okay." they went and sat in the living room 

Mrs Grove followed them whilst Mr Grove answered the door, she was about to sit down when she stopped and stared at her child. 

Basil looked up, feeling their mothers gaze boring into her "What's up?"

"How do you do that with your hair..? It keeps changing." 

"I believe I may have an answer for that" an old man, dressed in the strangest outfit Basil had ever seen, spoke hoarsely next to Mr. Grove. 

He was wearing a bright crimson read robe, with a long sweeping, blindingly white beard. Half moon spectacles and dazzlingly bright blue eyes sat behind the lenses--

"Ms. Grove, here, is a metamorphmagus" He explained, in a way that he expected them all to know what that was. 

"A-meta--morf--ma-what??" asked Mr. Grove 

The old man chuckled at Mr. Grove's bewildered face "A metamorphmagus" 

"is that some form of cancer or something??" asked Mrs. Grove 

He chuckled again, fixing Basil with a piercing, x-ray gaze over his half-moon spectacles "No, I assure you, Ms. Grove is in perfect health. A metamorphmagus simply means that they can change their appearance within will"

Basil's heart fluttered - - 'they-he said they.' 

"but how??" Mrs. Grove asked

He removed his stair, seeming to now understand Basil completely, "They are a witch."

Mr Grove stared at him as though he had lost the plot, and Basil had to admit, no matter how obviously homosexual the man was, Rightly so. "What?"

"A witch, Now, I understand your confusion. This simply means that they have magical blood. I run a school- for people of my kind, to help them learn and control their magic"

"Sounds a bit expensive" Mr. Grove muttered

"Its completely free to attend-The only thing you have to buy is school supplies from Diagon Alley" He explained patiently

"Wheres that then when it's at home?" Mr. Grove scratched his head, wracking his brain incase he had seen it before

The man chuckled again "It is located in London, Muggles like yourself can't find it unless instructed" 

"Muggle??" Mrs Grove asked

"Non-Magical Beings"

"Oh" Mrs. Grove said, trying to act like that helped her not be confused.

"I know this is alot, but I'm sure Ms. Grove would be perfectly happy at my school"

"Bel, do you wanna go?" Mr. Grove looked at Basil, who nodded enthusiastically

"I'd be the greatest Warlock in Britain!! Like Will the Wise-and Merlin! Is he real?? Are the Knights of the round table real?? With the sword in the anvil that Merlin enchanted so only those worthy could pull the sword out?!"

He chuckled again "Yes, he's a very famous wizard. And I see you're very well read, many mistake it for a stone"

Basil beamed "Everyone at school calls me a swot for reading"

He smiled kindly "I'm sure you'd enjoy our library"

Basil's face lit up- they'd never been more excited about going to school

Mr. Grove laughed a little "Hang on, hang on, there's loads more stuff we need to figure out"

And after figuring said things out- finding out how to get to diagon alley and recieving a train ticket, the man, who finally introduced himself as Proffessor Dumbledore, left the house and disappeared around a corner.


	2. Diagon Alley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basil's deadname is bella(forgot to mention) my work is also available on wattpad, same user as ao3

Time stamp-Summer before first year, a week before start of school.   
Word Count:1114

Story:  
______________________________________

The rest of the summer couldn't have gone by quicker, but somehow it did. Basil dragged their parents to diagon alley, following Dumbledore's instructions, and was now stood in awe, in the brick archway dividing them from the muggle world, which all of a sudden felt very bland and boring. They ran around looking at everything in awe, beaming. Feeling at home. 

Mr and Mrs. Grove kept glancing around nervously and consulting the list they needed "..okay..umm...look for a shop called.. Flourish and Blotts- you can get your books" Mr. Grove said 

"How're we going to pay??" Mrs. Grove asked her husband "Would they accept our money?" 

Basil laughed "Did either of you listen to Proffessor Dumbledore??? They have a bank!!" 

So off to the bank they ventured, It took longer than usual, because Basil was determined to look everywhere and kept making them stop. 

Mr. Grove exited the bank a while later, very disturbed, However basil remained in awe. 

"THEYRE SO COOL!!" 

"they're horrifying" Mr. Grove shuddered "So quiet... I've never felt it so illegal just to try talk" 

Basil laughed "Okay- now we have money!! I'm ready to become a warlock!!" 

Mrs. Grove laughed again "Alright, come on, stay close its quite busy" she stood up from the stone steps where they had been sat in wait. 

First they entered Madam Malkins- at the back of the shop they could make out flaming red hair, and greasy black hair that was in dire need of a good wash, stood on stools, their robes being pinned and measured onto their slight frames. Their father spoke to the lady and they were taken to stand next to the girl with flaming red hair. 

"Hello" she smiled, she would've turned to greet them but had to stay in place. 

"Hello" Basil smiled a little

"Im lily" 

"B-" basil thought "....bella. I prefer Basil though.." 

"Okay!" Lily beamed "Nice to meet you Basil!" 

The greasy boy next to her groaned. 

Basil looked at snape "Whats Big Nose's deal??" 

Lily held back laughter at the name "That's Severus, he's my friend- he's a little arrogant" 

"A little?" 

Lily smiled "I think we're going to be good friends" 

Basil smiled, atleast there would be one friendly face. 

"Dear, just move your hair out of the way, please" the lady measuring out basil's robes said politely. 

"Oh- do you need a bobble-" Lily went to reach in her pocket but by the time she had retrieved it, Basil's hair had shrunk up into a pixie cut, she gasped. 

"Youre a metamorphmagus!! Sev's told me all about them!" 

Basil blushed a little, still not liking the look of mophead stood next to her "Uh-yeah, I am" 

"Thats amazing!" 

Severus scoffed "Anyone can change their appearance with the right charm or potion." 

"Yeah, but Basil doesn't have to spend months brewing it, sev" Lily pointed out 

'Sev' rolled his eyes and got off the stool because he was done, he payed and left 

Lily rolled her eyes at his arroganxe and hopped down too "See you on the train, Basil" she payed and followed severus. 

Basil hopped down, payed and beamed, putting their new robes in their bag "I'm so excited to go to a wizard bookshop!!" 

Mr and Mrs. Grove laughed 

"Cmon, then" Mr. Grove exited the shop and walked with Basil over to Flourish and Blotts.

Basil ran through the shop, beaming and flicking through books-they bought the ones set as well as some fictional wizard stories, they looked amazing.

The rest of the day was similar, running around gathering things they needed aswell as other stuff, They even bought an Owl. Who they decided to name Icarus- after the Greek God of flight. 

"Okay, just one more thing..Your wand." Their father consulted the list for about the 100th time that day

Basil's face lit up again, their face hurt from smiling "I'M GETTING A WAND?!" 

Mr. Grove laughed "Keep your voice down, you'll wake Icarus up" the barne owl had his head tucked under his wing and was fast asleep. 

Basil walked into olivanders, but they walked so fast they didn't notice the tall spectacled boy infront of them and collided into him. 

He stumbled a little and stared at Basil, fixing his circled glasses back onto his nose "Uh- Hello" 

Basil went red and stepped back "sorry- i-i didn't see you" their hair was going pink from embarrassment 

He stared more "Youre a metamorphmagus!!" 

"uh- yeah" they still didn't know how to say that stupid word. 

"Wow!!!" He smiled "I'm James - James Potter-you've probably heard of my family, they're pureblood" He reached out to shake their hand. 

"Uh- sorry- no" they shook his hand nervously 

"How come?" 

"My parents arent wizards" 

"ohh you're muggle born!" 

"What does that mean?" they regretted asking that, it turned into a five minute, mostly one way conversation of him explaining the blood hierarchy, he explained what mudblood was and how he hated everybody that believed in blood supremely. 

"Wow" was all basil could say

"Yeah" james smiled 

"This world is amazing" 

"Glad you like it, it's your home now- See you on the train-Oh- by the way-what's your name?" 

"Basil. Basil Grove" basil smiled, very glad their parents were out of earshot 

"Great- see you at school, Grove!" He left. 

This brought the store man's attention, and he turned " 'Grove' ?" he said mysteriously "Now that's a name I've never heard before and I remember every wand I've ever sold" 

"um- I'm Muggleborn" basil explained awkwardly. 

"Ah" He smiled "Well- this is my shop. Mr. Ollivander is yours truly" 

"Wow" basil smiled "so- you can get me a wand??" 

"Even better. I can get you the wand. The wand chooses the wizard, that's what I've always said. It's a perfect match, the wand completes our magic" 

Basil just stared and listened 

"Now-" He turned to the rows of boxes and looked around in thought and then smiled "Here we are" He picked up the box and slowly removed the lid, passing the wand to Basil. 

They held it and smiled, immediatley their fingertips warmed and golden flakes emitted from the end.

Ollivander clapped "First try too, might I add" 

Basil laughed a little and stared at the design, it was sleek and polished, a snake wrapped around the bottom, giving it perfect grip. 

"Cmon, now, we've got everything, time for a spot of lunch and then home" Mrs. Grover said 

"Thank you Mr. Ollivander" Basil beamed and payed, boxed the wand back up and went home.


	3. Platform 9 and 3/4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basil meets the marauders

Time Stamp- September 1st  
Word Count:994

Story:  
______________________________________

The rest of the summer was completely dull. Basil was too excited to wait, and quickly grew impatient.

Once they got to the train station they looked around eagerly, alot of other wizards were trudging past, you could tell they deffinetly weren't Muggles. Most of them had owls or were making a very bad attempt of blending in (one man was wearing a ballerina costume and was being immensely judged). 

Basil dragged their parents over, to the barriers between platform 9 and platform 10.

"Okay- do you want to say good bye now? I don't think we can get through" Mr. Grove said

"Yeah" Basil hugged their parents tight "I'll write everyday, I promise"

"Okay, stay safe and make friends"

"I will" Basil smiled and picked up Icarus and their trolley, following Dumbledore's instructions on how to get through, they waited patiently for nobody to be there and then ran through, pushing their trolley infront of them, they opened their eyes as soon as the atmosphere completely changed and found themselves stood on platform 9 and 3/4- they almost whooped out of joy and just smiled, they felt at home. 

They pushed their trolley between people and boarded the train, with icarus under their arm and the trunk clasped in their wrist-the gift of being a helpful child is that you always got asked to help with the shopping-hense always knew how to take everything in one go. 

They found an empty compartment and set icarus down, closed the door and made themselves taller so that they could reach the shelf and hauled their trunk up. 

They let Icarus out of his cage, and the owl began doing small circles in the air, They decided that he had needed to stretch his wings and seeing as their was no body else their, let him out. 

Basil smiled to themselves and sat by the window, got Will The Wise out of their backpack and began reading. 

A tall boy with long hair, that swept gracefully down to his shoulders, entered the compartment, he couldn't have been older than Basil, but he certainly acted like it. 

Basil glanced up to acknowledge hid presence and then went back to reading about Will The Wise's monologue of how the evil Dragon Witch was wrong to keep the town hostage. 

The boy looked at them, watching Icarus, who seemed to immediatly take a fondness of him. "Mind if I sit here?" 

"Go for it" Basil shrugged- he sounded posh, and again Basil's hair went pink from embarrassment. He was posh, probably from London-They were not. From Manchester. 

He gaped "Youre a metamorphmagus!" 

"Is that going to be everybody's reaction?? Yeah- my hair can change colour and I can win the stupid face competition-Why's everyone staring? You guys can literally perform magic and this shocks you??" 

He laughed "Fair enough" he plopped himself down on a seat "Im Sirius- Sirius Black" 

"Thats a constellation" 

"wha-?" 

"Sorry- I really like astronomy-" their hair went a deeper shade of pink "I'm Basil. Basil Grove" 

"Nice to meet you Basil" Sirius laughed. 

James- the boy from Mr. Ollivanders, entered the compartment, he smiled at the sight of Basil "Hey Basil-told you I'd see you on the train-mind if we sit here??" 

"Sure I don't mind" Basil smiled - friends were fun. 

A smaller, mousey haired-quite twitchy-boy, followed james and sat next to him "Hello" 

"Hey" 

"This is Pete- we've been neighbours since we were kids, so I didn't wanna leave him behind" 

"Thats fine" Basil shrugged, kinda wanting to go back to their book. 

Introductions were passed around between James, Sirius and Pete. 

Lily entered and sat down, her eyes were red and puffy-like she had been crying, the greasy haired boy followed her. 

"Lily- its not that big a deal. Petunia is just a muggle" 

Basil groaned "This twat again" they muttered 

James looked at Basil "What do you mean?" 

"Big nose over their was being a wanker in madam malkins a week ago- little bit before I met you, remember?" 

"Uh-huh" james nodded. 

"Anyway- lily, youd better be in slytherin" snape continued, ignoring them. 

"I hope I'm in gryffindor-like my dad" james smiled 

"I'll probably end up in slytherin" Sirius grumbled "All my family has been- might fancy breaking the rules a little though" He smiled 

James laughed "I think I'd rather leave the school than end up in slytherin" 

The other 2 boys that had an understanding of personal hygiene nodded in agreement. 

"If you'd rather brawny than brainy." severus snapped

"Yeah- don't know what you'd end up in, seeing as you're neither" james snapped back, smirking

Basil laughed a little

Severus rolled his eyes and stomped out

Lily followed him

"SEE YA SNIVELLUS!" Sirius shouted

James laughed "That's a brilliant name!"

Sirius and James highfived. Little did everyone know- that high-five was the marking of a friendship that would last a life time

Basil laughed "if he ever went to one of the schools at home he'd get absolutely bollocked"

James laughed "He so would"

Another boy appeared at the door "Hello-um- this is the only compartment left..do you mind if I sit in here?"

"Sure" James smiled

"Thanks" he smiled and sat down, even sat down you could tell he was the tallest out of the 4 "I'm Remus, by the way. Remus Lupin"

Basil waved and went back into their book

Icarus landed on Remus' shoulder and chirped.

They all introduced themselves again- that was gonna get boring.

Basil finished their book just as the trolley came around 

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" she smiled at them all 

They all pooled their money together and got atleast 8 of everything, and they laughed as Basil tried everything for the first time, every reaction triggered a new hair colour and it was very entertaining to watch.


	4. The Sorting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all takes a turn for the worst when Basil Grove is sorted..

Time Stamp- September 1st 5pm.  
Word Count-402

Story:  
______________________________________

Basil was very glad to have made friends on the way-the whole train ride and boat along the lake was spent with them all explaining everything-Basil very much enjoyed the sound of quidditch, and the lore of hogwart's origin was amazingly mapped out by Remus.

As they walked down the great hall, towards the staff table, Basil easily made themselves taller to see the dirty old hat sat on a stool-is that what they had to do be sorted? Did the hat have some psychic technology?

The cieling was beautiful, mixtures of dark purples and blues, shimmering stars, perfectly reflecting the sky outside.

They reached the hat and sat in wait, as Proffessor Mcgonnagal explained everything about houses, how they were your family-and the pointing systems. She seemed to be eyeing James and Snivellus as she said "But the house you're in, does not determine whether you are a good or bad person."

The Sorting seemed to drag on for a while, Sirius Black was the first of the 5 to be sorted into gryffindor, at first he looked happy, but he quickly shot a terrified look over to the slytherin table, where two girls resembling his features exactly were glaring at him.

James nudged Basil "You'll be the next of our group-think we'll all make it to gryffindor?" He whispered

"I hope" Basil whispered back

"Grove, Bella." was called after a few more people

James' face contorted to confusion "Bella? Isn't your name Basil?"

Basil sighed "later" they walked up to the stool, nervously and sat down.

The hat was dropped over their head, and over their eyes. Blocking their view of the eyes of the entire school

"hmmmm..." the hat spoke in their ear

Basil jumped a little- that was not what they expected 'uh- hello-' they replied in their mind.

"muggle born..i see.. Quite a ready mind....and brave yes.. So brave-loyal too- good...and a thirst... To prove yourself..."

'Gryffindor Gryffindor Gryffindor'

"gryffindor, hmm? Are you sure..? Or do you just want that because thats where your friends are..? Slytherin is where you'll make your true friends.."

Basil went quiet in thought- they suposed it wouldn't be too bad - and there was no way that all slytherins were evil.

The hat chuckled 'better be........ SLYTHERIN!' the last part everybody heard

silence.


End file.
